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Posted: October 29th, 2009
The teen comedian shocked, humored audience with musical takes on taboo subjects
By: Ken Fibbe
Bo Burnham started as an internet sensation by posting clips of himself playing keyboard and guitar songs from the bedroom of his home in Boston. But the difference between Burnham and the million other amateur musicians and comics that wade in the YouTube Sea, hoping for their shot at fame, is that his material was, well… actually entertaining. The now 19 year-old fledging comedian embraces his immaturity and pounds it dead with adult humor with songs that poked fun at subjects like youth homosexuality and genitalia sizes. And after generating millions of internet views, it was only a matter of time before someone in the biz noticed. A Comedy Central special and full length CD later, Burnham officially ditched the idea of college and took his act on the road.
It landed him at Carnegie Library Music Hall on Saturday, Oct. 24. And those expecting to see the same silly Burnham they saw on TV got a raunchy surprise. His act sparked a range of crowd facial expressions diverse enough to be the envy of pro poker player Gus Hansen. Somehow in one hour Burnham managed to garner vivacious, gut wrenching laughter, provoke face-in-hands looks of disgust, evoke a pair material-shocked protestors to leave early and even had a pair of overzealous and obnoxious sing along fans thrown out by security (after repeatedly warning them not to interrupt him). It was highly unpredictable, washing intelligent and childish humor through a ringer of scat fest satirical raps and instrumental song ensembles. All while his red checkered underwear hung out over his sagging jeans.
Most of the primarily 18 to 20 something year-old crowd had seen his Comedy Central routine and joyful sang along to cult classics like the keyboard melody “My Whole Family” and the bragfest rap “I’m Bo Yo.” His perverted love songs and unconventional musical style is similar to the guitar strapping comedian Stephen Lynch, but is more inspired by urban rhythms and filthy, fast paced wordplay – which is amusing, when you can keep up.
His set was filled with dirty, offensive material that spared no expense to sensitive subjects like religion, AIDS and Helen Keller (whom he claimed in one song was his perfect girlfriend because she never talked back to him). Occasionally, he would fill time by poking fun at crowd members, telling a group of girls they looked like they were auditioning for Rock of Love 4, and calling one mother “irresponsible” for bringing her 13 year-old son to his very R-rated show.
Some of the laughter came with squinted eyes, head shakes and an “Oooh. Did he really go there?” guilt for feeding the beast with chuckles. Reactions were as diverse as an early 20th century Ellis Island dock port. At times, he went too far and failed to get desirable responses for blatantly offensive stabs at religion and handicapped people. I was one of the ones shaking my head at those.
But in hindsight, his freshest and funniest bits were actually his most simple and pure. For instance, his segment called “New Math” gave hilarious spins on statistical “facts.” One-liners like “33.3 percent of the Jonas Brothers have diabetes” and “1 in every 44 U.S. Presidents can slam dunk a basketball” had the crowd bent over their seats in laughter.
His “Book of Haikus” was also a crowd pleaser, as he recited short poems that didn’t even follow the 17 syllable Haiku rule. In one part, he said “For 50 cents a day you can feed a child in Africa. Because apparently, all they eat are pennies;” and then followed it with a “ding” as he lightly struck a musical triangle.
His quips were ingenious and songs were complex in style and his memorization skills channeled the great Robin Williams. The act flourishes with super-intelligence, and it’s safe to say he probably got a 30 or above on the ACT. (That is, if he even bothered taking it).
The material was extensive and fresh enough to keep even the diehards on their toes, and the exit rows were filled with students citing their favorite one liners (those that were safe to say in public, that is). And no matter how you felt when you walked out, the person to my right summed up it perfectly as he was gathering his coat at the shows end. “One thing is for sure,” the man said, “Bo has got issues.”
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